Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, Sean Astin!

It's the birthday today of everybody's favorite halfling, actor Sean Astin, who you may remember from such motion pictures and televisual shows as The Goonies, Rudy, Memphis Belle, Icebreaker, 24, Stranger Things, and a little thing called The Lord of the Rings, soon to be remade at Warner Brothers but probably without Sean, so boo hiss.

Does Sean enjoy MAD magazine? See for yourself!


from MAD #260 (January 1986)

Today in Comics History, February 25: Happy birthday, June Tarpé Mills!

Born on this day in 1912: comics writer and illustrator June Tarpé Mills, one of the first major female comics artists (Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics, Amazing Man Comics, Our Love Story, Amazing Mystery Funnies, Funny Pages, Prize Comics, more) and the creator of the first woman action hero, Miss Fury, for Marvel/Timely.


from "Golden Girls" in Fearless (2019 series) #4 (Marvel, December 2019); script by Trina Robbins; pencils, inks, and colors by Marguerite Sauvage; letters by Cardinal Rae
A very happy birthday to you, Miss Mills!


from Girl Comics (2010 series) #2 (Marvel, July 2010), text by Trina Robbins (?), Mills illustration by Colleen Coover

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1947: Kool-Aid is uncharacteristically silent

from "Memories of Hator" in Wonder Woman: Black & Gold #5 (DC, December 2021); script, pencils, inks, and colors by Trung Le Nguyen, letters by Rob Leigh

Today in Comics History, February 25, 1911: Then Everett True got into a fistfight with President Taft until they both laughed about it, then sat down and ate an entire roast elephant

Alley Oop (Newspaper Enterprise Association, April 21, 1969), by V. T. Hamlin with assistance by Dave Graue
(Special thanks to the CLASSIC COMIC STRIPS Twitter feed for bringing this one to my little stuffed attention!)

Today in Comics History, February 24: Happy birthday, Andi Watson!

Born on this day: comics writer and artist Andi Watson, creator of Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day, Geisha, Skeleton Key, Love Fights, Glister, Princess at Midnight, and scripter on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens vs Predator: Xenogenesis, Clubbing, Namor, and many more! Here he is, a self-portrayal both tiny and insignificant, bowing down before Dark Horse editor James Rich (no, that's not Namor!) and a demon version of Stan Sakai (altho', Stan Sakai as an infernal being? No way. He's too nice!):


from Usagi Yojimbo (1996 series) #100 (Dark Horse, January 2007); script by James S. Rich; pencils, inks, and letters by Andi Watson
Happy, happy birthday to you, Andi! Draw yourself larger in the comics next time!

Today in Comics History, February 24: Happy birthday, Abe Vigoda!

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published February 24, 2022.

Born on this day in 1921, so it's the 102nd birthday of Abe Vigoda, who gets to be in this blog feature not only because I like him, but also because he's appeared in comic books! More specifically, here's his Barney Miller character Fish, in an issue of Iron Fist:


from Iron Fist (1975 series) #8 (Marvel, October 1976), script by Chris Claremont, pencils by John Byrne, inks by Dan Adkins, colors by Bonnie Wilford, letters by Joe Rosen
So, who d'you think that artist "Byrne" is that Fish is talking about? MAKE A GUESS.

Today in Comics History, February 24, 4000: Magnus mistakenly thought he had ordered steak sauce

from "Eyes to the Blind" in Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter FCBD 2010 #1 one-shot (Dark Horse, May 2010), script by Jim Shooter, pencils and inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Blambot

Today in Comics History, February 24, 4000: Now back to Code Name: Diamond Head, starring...that one guy.

from "Eyes to the Blind" in Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter FCBD 2010 #1 one-shot (Dark Horse, May 2010), script by Jim Shooter, pencils and inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Blambot

Today in Comics History, February 24, 4000: Magnus, Beauty Sleep Fighter

from "Eyes to the Blind" in Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter FCBD 2010 #1 one-shot (Dark Horse, May 2010), script by Jim Shooter, pencils and inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Blambot

Today in Comics History, February 23, 4000, 11:49 PM: Floating chairs now come without and with holes

from "Eyes to the Blind" in Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter FCBD 2010 #1 one-shot (Dark Horse, May 2010), script by Jim Shooter, pencils and inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Blambot

Today in Comics History, February 23, 4000, 10:30 PM: They fight, and fight, and fight and fight and fight

from "Eyes to the Blind" in Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom/Magnus, Robot Fighter FCBD 2010 #1 one-shot (Dark Horse, May 2010), script by Jim Shooter, pencils and inks by Bill Reinhold, colors by Wes Dzioba, letters by Blambot

Today in Comics History, February 23, 1942: General MacArthur finally gets fan mail from some flounder

from General Douglas MacArthur one-shot (Fox, 1951), creators uncredited and unknown

Today in Comics History, February 22: Breathe Deep the Gathering Gloom

"Air-Tight!" in Crime SuspenStories (1950 series) #6 (EC, August 1951), text by Al Feldstein

Today in Comics History, February 20, 1895: Rest in Power, Frederick Douglass

from Classics Illustrated #169 [Negro Americans: The Early Years] (Gilberton, Spring 1969), pencils and inks by Norman Nodel

Today in Comics History, February 20: Happy birthday, Mike Allred!

Born on this day: Mike Allred, scripter and artist, creator of Madman, Red Rocket 7, and The Atomics, co-creator of X-Statix and iZombie, and artist on some of the World's Most Fun Comics™ ever, including FF, Silver Surfer, Wednesday Comics, Bug!: The Adventures of Forager, X-Ray Robot, Superman: Space Age and much, much more!


from FF (2013 series) #10 (Marvel, September 2013), script by Matt Fraction, pencils & inks by Mike Allred, colors by Laura Allred, letters by Clayton Cowles

Today in Comics History, February 20: Your horoscope for Pisces: You are an aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animal that lacks limbs with digits

from Sweethearts (1948 series) #73 (Fawcett, March 1949), creators uncredited and unknown